Product Container Including Surface with Bumps

ABSTRACT

A product container ( 10 ) includes a tray. The tray ( 20 ) includes a bottom surface ( 22 ) and at least one side wall ( 24 ) extending from the bottom surface. A plurality of bumps ( 26 ) is disposed along the bottom surface.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a container for product pieces.

Containers for products not only hold the product, but may also providea desired appearance for marketing purposes. It is desirable to have acontainer to hold individual product pieces that is easy to fill andeasy to remove the product pieces.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In various aspects, a product container is provided. The productcontainer includes a surface with bumps that help to orient the productpieces when the container is filled. Advantageously, the products can bemore efficiently packed as compared to a container without the bumps.

In one aspect, a product container includes a tray. The tray includes abottom surface and at least one side wall extending from the bottomsurface. A plurality of bumps is disposed along the bottom surface.

In another aspect, a method of loading product pieces into a productcontainer includes providing a tray and a lid. The tray includes abottom surface. At least one side wall extends from the bottom surface.A plurality of bumps is disposed along the bottom surface. A pluralityof product pieces is provided and disposed into the tray. The tray isvibrated to position the product pieces onto the bottom surface. The lidis then attached to the tray.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view of an embodiment of a tray of a product container.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the tray of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of an embodiment of a lid of a productcontainer.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the lid of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the lid of FIG. 3 connected to thetray of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a top schematic view of two product pieces disposed on aportion of the tray bottom.

FIG. 7 is a top schematic view of three product pieces disposed on aportion of the tray bottom.

FIG. 8 is a side schematic view of two product pieces disposed on aportion of the tray bottom.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is described with reference to the drawings in which likeelements are referred to by like numerals. The relationship andfunctioning of the various elements of this invention are betterunderstood by the following description. Each aspect so defined may becombined with any other aspect or aspects unless clearly indicated tothe contrary. The embodiments described below are by way of exampleonly, and the invention is not limited to the embodiments illustrated inthe drawings.

The present invention provides a container particularly suitable forproduct pieces, for example confectionery product pieces. An embodimentof a tray 20 of a product container 10 is shown in FIG. 1. The tray 20includes a bottom surface 22 and at least one side wall 24 extendingfrom the bottom surface 22. A plurality of bumps 26 is disposed atregular intervals along the bottom surface 22. The bumps are convexprotuberances extending from the bottom surface 22. The bumps 26 may beof any suitable shape. In one embodiment, the bumps 26 aresemi-spherical in shape. The bumps 26 may also be conical, pyramidal, orcylindrical in shape.

The side wall 24 includes a height 28. The side wall may include fourside walls 32, 34, 36, and 38 to provide a rectangular tray 20. Thebottom surface 22 includes a length 40 and a width 42. The tray 20 maybe generally shallow in height compared to its length and width. In oneembodiment, the height 28 of the side wall 24 is less than the longestdimension 61 of the product pieces 60 contained within the container 10.In another embodiment, the interior height 28 of the container 10 isabout 1 to 4 mm greater than the thickness 63 of the product piece 60.Typical dimensions of the product container 10 are between 4 and 6inches in length, between 2 and 4 inches in width, and between 0.3 and0.5 inches in height.

The product container may also include a lid 30, as shown in FIGS. 3 and4. The lid 30 may be connected to the tray 20 in any suitable fashion.In embodiments, the lid is hingedly connected to the tray or connectedin other configurations. In the shown embodiment, the lid 30 may beslidingly connected to the tray 20. The slidingly connected lid 30 mayalso be configured to snap on to the tray 20, particularly in ahigh-speed filling operation. The lid 30 may include a flat innersurface 31 and rolled edges 43 which slidingly engage correspondingrolled lips 39 on the tray 20. The rolled edges 43 extend along threesides of the lid 30, terminating at a point 33 to allow the lid 30 toslide open to reveal the contents of the container 10. As shown in FIGS.4 and 5, the lid 30 may include side walls 35 that extend over therolled lip 39 of the tray 20. The lid 30 may include a portion 37 withno side wall or lip, to allow the lid 30 to slide off the tray 20without interference.

The lid 30 may also include one or more small bumps 44, 45 projectinginto the interior of the container 10. One or more bumps 45 may bepositioned roughly adjacent to the back wall 46 to engage thecorresponding lip 39 on the tray 20 to act as a detent preventingaccidental opening of the container. Additional bumps 44 may be locatedat chosen distance(s) from the rear wall 46 of the lid 30 to encouragepartial opening of the lid 30 to one or more pre-selected positions.

In an embodiment, the bumps 26 are disposed at regular intervals in apattern of rows and columns. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the bottomsurface 22 includes multiple rows 50 and columns 52 of bumps 26. Thebumps 26 may be disposed at equal intervals 54 along rows 50, and atequal intervals 56 along columns 52. Intervals 54 and 56 may be the samedistance or different distances. Additionally, the bumps 26 in adjacentrows and columns may either line up or be offset from each other. Thebottom surface 22 includes a plurality of interstitial spaces 58 betweenthe bumps 26. The interstitial spaces 26 are defined by the fouradjacent bumps 26. In other embodiments (not shown) the bumps 26 may bearranged in other patterns or randomly distributed on the bottom surface22 of the tray 20.

The tray 20 is adapted to hold a plurality of product pieces 60. FIG. 6is a top view showing product pieces 60 with a circular cross sectiondisposed in the interstitial spaces 58 between bumps 26. The bumps 26and interstitial spaces 58 are configured to allow pieces 60 to pack tohigh density, where each piece 60 touches or almost touches up to fourother adjacent pieces 60. In an embodiment, the bumps 26, interstitialspaces 58 and product pieces 60 are sized and shaped to prevent contactbetween the product pieces 60 when they are precisely positioned in theinterstitial spaces 58.

The product pieces 60 may be any suitable shape. In an embodiment theproduct pieces 60 include at least one portion with a substantially flator slightly curved surface, which may be disposed at least partiallyagainst the bottom surface 22. In another embodiment, the product pieces60 are roughly spherical in shape. The product pieces 60 are shown witha curved portion and a round cross section, but other shapes arepossible, such as square, rectangular, cylindrical, oval, or spherical.Square product pieces 62 are shown in FIG. 7. Most efficient packing andmaximization of the benefits of the bumps 26 occurs when the faces ofthe pieces are symmetrical in at least four axes, such as for circularand square pieces. As shown in FIG. 8, the curved pieces 60 may have arelatively small flat equatorial portion (called a belly band) 64 tominimize them standing on their sides when the containers 10 are filled.The bumps 26 help to encourage the product pieces 26 to lie down even ifthe flat equatorial portion 64 is large. The pieces 60 have a longestdimension 61 and a height 63. As shown in FIG. 8, the bumps 26 mayfacilitate removal of the product pieces 60 by preventing the pieces 60from lying completely flat on the bottom surface 22 of the tray 20. Theexact size and shape of the face of the individual pieces 60 may bechosen to prevent a piece 60 from simultaneously contacting more thanthree of the bumps 26 defining the interstitial space 58 in which thepieces 60 resides. This ensures that the face of the product piece 60will remain in contact with the tray bottom surface 22.

The product container 10 may be filled with product pieces 60 via a highspeed loading operation. The orientation of the bumps 26 relative to thesize of the product pieces 60 is helpful in ensuring proper loading ofthe product pieces 60. The bumps 26 help disperse the pieces 60 evenlyacross the surface 22 of the tray 20 in a single plane and reduce thelikelihood of a piece 60 being oriented on edge in the container 10.Thus also allows the product pieces 60 to be easily counted, forexample, by the use of machine vision. For high speed loading, a priorart practice is to size the product 60 and container 10 such that theheight 28 of the interior of the container 10 should be at least equalto the diameter (or longest dimension) of the product pieces 60, plus aclearance factor which is typically 1 to 2 mm for typical confectioneryproducts. This ensures that the pieces 60 will not interfere with thefitting of the lid 30 to the tray 20 after loading by allowing for thelikelihood that some pieces 60 might be oriented on edge or on top ofone another. It has been found that by utilizing the present invention,the height 28 of the interior of the tray 20 may be somewhat thinnerthan the prior art practice and still allow for high speed loading. Inan embodiment, the interior height 28 of the container 10 will be lessthan the greatest dimension 61 of the product piece 60. In anotherembodiment, the interior height 28 of the container 10 will be about 1to 4 mm greater than the thickness 63 of the product piece 60.

To load the container 10, a tray 20 is provided. A plurality of productpieces 60 is loaded in the tray. After the pieces 60 are loaded in thetray 20, the tray 20 may be vibrated to position the pieces 60 in theinterstitial spaces 58 in the tray 20 and to encourage each piece 60 tolay flat on the bottom surface 22 of the tray 20. The lid 30 may then beattached to the tray 20.

The configuration of container 10 allows a thinner (lower height)package and allows more pieces 60 to be fit within a container of agiven size, and increase the perception of the consumer that thecontainer 10 is full.

The container 10 may be made of any suitable material. The tray 20 andlid 30 may be made of metal, plastic, molded fiber, wood, or othersuitable materials. The container 10 may include an outer covering suchas a shrink wrap or a sleeve (made of paperboard or other material).Several containers 10 may be provided in a box or other suitable largercontainer.

Although the present invention has been described with reference topreferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize thatchanges may be made and formed in detail without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended that theforegoing detailed description be regarded as illustrative rather thanlimiting, and that it be understood that it is the following claims,including all equivalents, that are intended to define the scope of thisinvention.

1-25. (canceled)
 26. A product container for holding a plurality ofproduct pieces comprising: a tray comprising: a bottom surface; at leastone side wall extending from the bottom surface; and a plurality ofbumps disposed along the bottom surface, the bumps oriented and shapedto encourage the plurality of product pieces to lay flat on the bottomsurface and a single product piece within an interstitial space betweenthe bumps.
 27. The product container of claim 26 further comprising alid.
 28. The product container of claim 27 wherein the lid is hingedlyconnected to the tray.
 29. The product container of claim 27 wherein thelid is slidingly connected to the tray.
 30. The product container ofclaim 26 wherein the bumps are semi-spherical in shape.
 31. The productcontainer of claim 26 wherein the bumps are conical in shape.
 32. Theproduct container of claim 26 wherein the bumps are pyramidal in shape.33. The product container of claim 26 wherein the bumps are disposed atregular intervals in a pattern of rows and columns.
 34. The productcontainer of claim 26 further comprising a plurality of product piecescontained within the product container.
 35. The product container ofclaim 34 wherein the product pieces have at least one substantially flatsurface.
 36. The product container of claim 34 wherein the productpieces have at least one slightly curved surface.
 37. The productcontainer of claim 26 wherein the interstitial space is defined by fouradjacent bumps.
 38. The product container of claim 37 wherein theproduct pieces are shaped so as to be able to simultaneously contactexactly three of the four bumps defining the interstitial space.
 39. Amethod of loading product pieces into a product container, comprising:providing a tray comprising: a bottom surface; at least one side wallextending from the bottom surface; and a plurality of bumps disposedalong the bottom surface, the bumps oriented and shaped to encourage theplurality of product pieces to lay flat on the bottom surface and asingle product piece within an interstitial space between the bumps;providing a lid; providing a plurality of product pieces; disposing theplurality of product pieces into the tray; vibrating the tray toposition the product pieces onto the bottom surface; and attaching thelid to the tray.
 40. The method of claim 39 wherein the interstitialspaces are defined by four adjacent bumps.
 41. The method of claim 40wherein the product pieces are shaped so as to be able to simultaneouslycontact exactly three of the four bumps defining the interstitial spaceand the bottom surface of the tray.
 42. The method of claim 39 whereinthe at least one side wall includes a height and wherein the productpieces include a longest dimension, wherein the height is not greaterthan about the longest dimension of the product pieces.
 43. The methodof claim 39 wherein the at least one side wall includes a height andwherein the product pieces include a thickness, wherein the height isbetween about 1 mm and about 4 mm greater than about the thickness ofthe product pieces.